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My eight-year-old son Jack is starting therapy soon to address the post-traumatic stress issues that are causing us all concern now that he has finished treatment for cancer. The short term goal is to address the needle phobia associated with it, which is more accurately described as a “lab-induced panic spiral,” but ultimately he has a LOT of anxiety that controls him and if we could ease that even a little bit, I’ll consider it a WIN....more

It’s only Tuesday? I thought as I stared at the pill organizer. How is that possible?The anxiety in my chest grew. But that’s what day the organizer told me it was. The next dose of medication was right there. My phone agreed that it was Tuesday, as well. I shook my head and sighed.I can’t wait until Friday....more

“Crystal, there’s a new girl with your name! You have to meet her!”I was about 7 years old. Her name was spelled differently – with a K and an I, instead of a C and a Y – and she was so much my opposite. Kristal and I immediately became best friends. Like, within seconds. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do. We had the same name, after all....more

This past year we’ve really struggled with sensory issues with our son Jack. We didn’t know whether these struggles were related to his fight with cancer (treatment can affect many things) or if the issues had been less noticeable earlier in his life because he wasn’t under so much stress. He’s always been a sensitive kid – I can remember setting him down on the lawn outside our apartment at nine months old and his look of consternation when he realized he was surrounded by pokey blades of grass....more

In summer of 2008, just before our son’s second birthday, my husband and I split up after nine years of marriage. Our marriage had been over for a long time and we’d come close to splitting a number of times over the years, but for some unknown reason we just kept beating that horse until it was dust on the floor.Finally, with a few months of therapy under my belt and a therapeutic dose of antidepressants in my system, I found my strength and independence to utter the words.“I think we should split up,” I told him one day before work.“Yeah, me, too.”...more

Since my six-year-old son Jack was diagnosed with Leukemia in January, there have been both sweeping changes and little changes in our life. Some are harder to describe than others - some more subtle while others are glaring. Sometimes aspects of his personality that were there before might come out in a more noticeable way, or they might be more hidden, protected. Jack is still himself, of course, but the version of him we are living with now isn’t as steady or balanced. I often wonder how much of him is changing permanently because of this experience....more

I mostly handle my son Jack’s illness pretty well. The day-to-day stuff is much easier than I ever thought it would be and I’m pretty good at keeping up with what needs to be done. The thing that does get to me, though, is the look on other people’s faces when I tell them details about Jack’s treatments for Leukemia....more